Scholarly Editions and Translations Grants

Division of Research Programs

Updated guidelines will be posted at least two months in advance of the deadline listed above.

In the meantime, please use the guidelines for the previous deadline, to get a sense of what is involved in assembling an application.

Brief Summary

Scholarly Editions and Translations grants support the preparation of editions and translations of pre-existing texts of value to the humanities that are currently inaccessible or available in inadequate editions. Typically, the texts and documents are significant literary, philosophical, and historical materials; but other types of work, such as musical notation, are also eligible.

Projects must be undertaken by at least one editor or translator and one other collaborating scholar. These grants support full-time or part-time activities for periods of one to three years.

Applicants should demonstrate familiarity with the best practices recommended by the Association for Documentary Editing[1] or the Modern Language Association Committee on Scholarly Editions[2]. Translation projects should also explain the theory and method adopted for the particular work to be translated. Editions and translations produced with NEH support contain scholarly and critical apparatus appropriate to the subject matter and format of the edition. This usually means introductions and annotations that provide essential information about a text’s form, transmission, and historical and intellectual context.

Proposals for editions of foreign language materials in the original language are eligible for funding, as well as proposals for editions of translated materials.

Information about Preliminary Draft Proposals

Prospective applicants may submit a draft of their proposal for staff review (submission of draft proposals is optional) no later than October 15.

What’s New for 2016

NEH will reject applications with narratives exceeding 25 pages.

NEH will reject applications with appendices exceeding 35 pages.

Project directors and co-project directors are limited to one submission per application deadline, and may not hold more than one award at a time from the Division of Research Programs.

The project director must be the lead scholar and must devote a substantial percentage of time to the project, whether or not he or she is supported by NEH funds.

Projects for digitizing pre-existing texts, translating existing editions, or republishing previously published materials without a new or additional scholarly editorial and critical apparatus are ineligible.

Projects that focus on tools, digital tools, databases, visualizations, and maps without producing editions or annotated translations are ineligible.

Program Statistics

In the last five competitions the Scholarly Editions and Translations program received an average of 106 applications per year. The program made an average of 26 awards per year, for a funding ratio of 25 percent.

The potential applicant pool for Scholarly Editions and Translations is limited, since applicants must assemble project teams with demonstrated expertise in the content of the materials to be edited, the editorial process, and (when applicable) the translation process. On the one hand, this results in a somewhat small number of applications each year. On the other hand, the quality of the applications tends to be high, so that about one-third of all applicants have historically received funding.

The number of applications to an NEH grant program can vary widely from year to year, as can the success ratio. Information about the average number of applications and awards in recent competitions is meant only to provide historical context for the current competition. Information on the number of applications and awards in individual competitions is available from editions[at]neh[dot]gov[3].

Questions?

Contact NEH’s Division of Research Programs at 202-606-8200 and editions[at]neh[dot]gov[3]. Applicants who are deaf or hard of hearing can contact NEH via Federal Relay (TTY users) at 800-877-8399.